This invention relates to a method of preparing dry celery pieces and the product obtained thereby. More particularly, this invention prepares storage-stable dry celery pieces which, upon rehydration, achieve a fresh or freshly cooked celery texture, taste, color and appearance.
Fresh celery pieces are often incorporated into many different foods, e.g. salads, meat and seafood dishes, stuffing, etc., for the crunchy and turgid, fresh or freshly cooked texture of the pieces, as well as the taste and appearance imparted by the individual celery pieces. Celery is unique in its high moisture content (about 95%) and desireable crunchy texture, the texture being due to its cell structure which is difficult to maintain upon drying. When celery pieces are dried to preserve the celery for subsequent use in various foods, the parenchyma cell structure of the celery becomes distorted and non-characteristic of fresh celery, resulting in a flaccid, tough and stringy texture upon rehydration.
While some attempts have been made to preserve the fresh celery texture, generally these attempts either did not adequately provide a fresh celery texture, or resulted in a taste, color and appearance uncharacteristic of fresh celery. U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,714, by Shipman et al, equilibrates a fresh vegetable such as celery with a solution of glycerol, followed by drying. However, when celery pieces were prepared by incorporating glycerol, upon rehydration the celery pieces were excessively sweet with a bitter note, and the resultant texture was soft. U.S. Pat. No. 2,420,517 by Brandner et al discloses a process for osmotically dehydrating foods by immersing the food in a hydrophillic solution. While vegetables such as celery are disclosed and the hydrophillic materials include various sugars, when the process of the Brander et al patent, as in Example I(a), was tried with celery it was found that the infused celery had a tough texture and an excessively sweet flavor and there was no disclosure of means to preserve the fresh celery color. Various other patents, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,425,848 and 2,473,184 also disclose osmotic dehydration of foods, but neither incorporates a sufficient level of solids to maintain the texture of the celery pieces.
It therefore is a feature of this invention to prepare dried celery pieces in which a fresh or freshly cooked texture, color, taste and appearance is obtained upon rehydration.